A Belgian film company will soon start shooting a biopic on the body-double of Uday Hussein, the sadistic son of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The film will be directed by Lee Tamahori, famous for his 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day and Next (2007), which had starred Nicholas Cage.
The Devil’s Double, which is due to start filming in January, is a thriller based on a true story about the man forced to become the Uday’s dead-ringer. Latif Yahia, an Iraqi army lieutenant stationed on the Iranian border, was summoned to Saddam Hussein’s inner sanctum where he was given a choice: become the body double of Uday, or die.
The Devil’s Double provides unique insight into a closed society revealing the horrors of Saddam’s tyrannical regime from the inside while providing a chilling portrait of the man whom many considered to be Saddam’s heir apparent.
Yahia will be played by English actor Dominic Cooper, who had also played the character of Sky in the 2008 musical Mamma Mia. Prolific French actress Ludivine Sagnier is said to be in talks with the production company for a role in the same film.
Film industry sources told MaltaToday that the Belgian company Corsan is still looking at different locations where to shoot in Malta, and that although the island has been confirmed as the destination for filming, exact locations are not yet known. Corsan is still in the process of casting key people for the movie.